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Asturian linguistic description
Asturian is one of the Astur-Leonese languages which form part of the Iberian Romance languages, close to Galician-Portuguese and Castilian and further removed from Navarro-Aragonese. It is an inflecting, fusional, head-initial and dependent-marking language. Its word order is subject–verb–object (in declarative sentences without topicalization). Phonology Vowels Asturian distinguishes five vowel phonemes (these same ones are found in Spanish, Aragonese, Sardinian and Basque), according to three degrees of vowel openness (close, mid and open) and backness (front, central and back). Consonants * may be lenited in certain environments. * is pronounced in coda position. * is usually pronounced as a voiced fricative word-initially. Writing The Latin alphabet was used in the earliest Asturian texts. Although the Academia de la Llingua Asturiana published orthographic rules in 1981,Normes ortográfiques de la Llingua Asturiana different spelling rules are used in Terra de Miranda (Portugal). Asturian orthography is based on a five-vowel system ( ), with three aperture degrees. It has the following consonants: . The phenomenon of ''-u'' metaphony is uncommon, as are decrescent diphthongs ( , usually in the west). Although they can be written, ḷḷ (che vaqueira, formerly represented as "ts") and the eastern ḥ'' aspiration (also represented as "''h." and corresponding to ll and f'') are absent from this model. Asturian has triple gender distinction in the adjective, feminine plurals with ''-es, verb endings with ''-es, -en, -íes, íen'' and lacks compound tenses (or periphrasis constructed with "tener"). Alphabet *(*) also zeda, ceda Digraphs Asturian has several digraphs, some of which have their own names. Dialectal spellings The letter h'' and the digraph ''ll can have their sound changed to represent dialectal pronunciation by under-dotting the letters, resulting in ḥ'' and ''digraph ḷḷ * The "ḥ''" is common in eastern Asturian place names and in words beginning with ''f;Academia de la Llingua Asturiana, Gramática de la Llingua Asturiana, tercera edición, Oviedo: Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2001). workarounds such as h. and l.l were used in the past for printing. Grammar Asturian grammar is similar to that of other Romance languages. Nouns have three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), two numbers (singular and plural) and no cases. Adjectives may have a third, neuter gender, a phenomenon known as matter-neutrality. Verbs agree with their subjects in person (first, second, or third) and number, and are conjugated to indicate mood (indicative, subjunctive, conditional or imperative), tense (often present or past; different moods allow different tenses), and aspect (perfective or imperfective). Morphology Gender Asturian is the only western Romance language with three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. * Masculine nouns usually end in ''-u'', sometimes in ''-e'' or a consonant: el tiempu (time, weather), l’home (man), el pantalón (trousers), el xeitu (way, mode). * Feminine nouns usually end in ''-a'', sometimes ''-e'': la casa (house), la xente (people), la nueche (night). * Neuter nouns may have any ending. Asturian has three types of neuters: ** Masculine neuters have a masculine form and take a masculine article: el fierro vieyo (old iron). ** Feminine neuters have a feminine form and take a feminine article: la lleche frío (cold milk). ** Pure neuters are nominal groups with an adjective and neuter pronoun: lo guapo d’esti asuntu ye... (the interesting thing about this issue is ...). Adjectives are modified by gender. Most adjectives have three endings: ''-u'' (masculine), ''-a'' (feminine) and ''-o'' (neuter): El vasu ta fríu (the glass is cold), tengo la mano fría (my hand is cold), l’agua ta frío (the water is cold) Neuter nouns are abstract, collective and uncountable nouns. They have no plural, except when they are used metaphorically or concretised and lose this gender: les agües tán fríes (Waters are cold). Tien el pelo roxo (He has red hair) is neuter, but Tien un pelu roxu (He has a'' red hair) is masculine; note the noun's change in ending. Number Plural formation is complex: * Masculine nouns ending in ''-u → ''-os'': texu (yew) → texos. * Feminine nouns ending in ''-a'' → ''-es'': vaca (cow) → vaques. * Masculine or feminine nouns ending in a consonant take ''-es'': animal (animal) → animales; xabón (soap) → xabones. * Words ending in ''-z'' may take a masculine ''-os'' to distinguish them from the feminine plural: rapaz (boy) → rapazos; rapaza (girl) → rapaces. * Masculine nouns ending in ''-ín'' → ''-inos'': camín (way, path) → caminos, re-establishing the etymological vowel. * Feminine nouns ending in ''-á'', ''-ada'', ''-ú'' → ''-aes'' or ''-úes'', also re-establishing the etymological vowel: ciudá (city) → ciudaes; cansada (tired feminine) → cansaes; virtú (virtue) → virtúes. Determiners Their forms are: *Only before words beginning with a-'': ''l’aigla (the eagle), l’alma (the soul). Compare la entrada (the entry) and la islla (the island). Vocabulary Like other Romance languages, most Asturian words come from Latin: ablana, agua, falar, güeyu, home, llibru, muyer, pesllar, pexe, prau, suañar. In addition to this Latin basis are words which entered Asturian from languages spoken before the arrival of Latin (its substratum), afterwards (its superstratum) and loanwords from other languages. Substratum Although little is known about the language of the ancient Astures, it may have been related to two Indo-European languages: Celtic and Lusitanian. Words from this language and the pre–Indo-European languages spoken in the region are known as the prelatinian substratum; examples include bedul, boroña, brincar, bruxa, cándanu, cantu, carrascu, comba, cuetu, güelga, llamuerga, llastra, llócara, matu, peñera, riega, tapín and zucar. Many Celtic words (such as bragues, camisa, carru, cerveza and sayu) were integrated into Latin and, later, into Asturian. Superstratum Asturian's superstratum consists primarily of Germanisms and Arabisms. The Germanic peoples in the Iberian Peninsula, especially the Visigoths and the Suevi, added words such as blancu, esquila, estaca, mofu, serón, espetar, gadañu and tosquilar. Arabisms could reach Asturian directly, through contacts with Arabs or al-Andalus, or through the Castilian language. Examples include acebache, alfaya, altafarra, bañal, ferre, galbana, mandil, safase, xabalín, zuna and zucre. Loanwords Asturian has also received much of its lexicon from other languages, such as Castilian, French, Occitan and Galician. In number of loanwords, Spanish leads the list. However, due to the close relationship between Castilian and Asturian, it is often unclear if a word is borrowed from Castilian, common to both languages from Latin, or a loanword from Asturian to Castilian. Some Castilian forms in Asturian are: :: References External links * Category:Language phonologies Category:Language orthographies